Jaguar on the retail offensive

Jaguar's XE sedan has lifted the brand's local sales by over 800 units for the year to date. But new product isn't the only weapon at Jaguar's disposal to improve sales.

In fact, while the introduction of Jaguar's first SUV, the F-Pace will open the taps of an important new sales stream, it's also a catalyst for the local Jaguar dealer network to expand drastically – largely by offering existing Land Rover dealers an opportunity to sell the sister brand as well.

"F-Pace is the right timing to drive that change, because it creates relevance in regional Australia," says Jaguar Land Rover Australia MD Matthew Wiesner.

That expanded dealer network will naturally increase the scope and penetration of Jaguar's full line-up, not just the F-Pace. But while having more dealers is important to Jaguar's fortunes, it's also part of a broader strategy that will bring Jaguar up to the same level of grass-roots customer focus as its prestige rivals.

According to Wiesner, the local dealer network will be up around 45 or 46 dealers by this time next year. Currently the Jaguar network has risen from low twenties to "mid-thirties... thereabouts," Wiesner explained to motoring.com.au during the launch of the F-Pace last week.

"And we have a number of new sites on board through the back end of this year, in addition, plus the conversions we still haven't completed – of stand-alone Land Rover dealers."

The Jaguar boss says that in Australia there are "probably six or eight Land Rover dealers that are yet to become Jaguar Land Rover dealers". New Jaguar dealerships will open later this year in Rockhampton, Gosford and Shepparton.

The focus to date has been "predominantly regional, for obvious reasons", but there is "a number of significant metro holes that are yet to be filled" in Castle Hill, in western Brisbane and in Essendon. That's without mentioning regional gaps in Wagga Wagga, Ballarat and Bendigo.

A retail presence for Jaguar, in regional areas were Land Rover is already established, may also encourage new Land Rover sales – by association with its sister brand – although Wiesner believes Land Rover doesn't need much help in some regional PMAs.

"Land Rover itself, in a lot of those [regional] markets has been going literally one for one with the Germans – on all their offerings," he said.

So added dealers mean extra sales, multiplied by new product, for a geometric increase in sales. Then, multiply the product of those two factors with guaranteed buy-back and a service plan, and sales should increase exponentially.

The F-Pace is available with a five-year service plan, ranging in price from $1100 for the 2.0-litre diesel variants, and rising to $1750 for 3.0-litre diesel variants. Jaguar permits the 'inflation-proof' plan to be transferred to new vehicle owners, and it can be financed as part of the total package.

On top of that, the F-Pace is offered with 'Jaguar Freedom', a guaranteed future value incentive that's already available with the XE.

"Resale value is very important..." says Wiesner. "Cost of ownership is a significant conversation piece in any premium products. So we need to make sure we have an offer there that gets rid of those issues of the past."

There's an added wrinkle in Jaguar's agenda here. Cars that are worth more after they've been returned to the selling dealer can be tizzied up and put back on the lot as an approved, pre-owned vehicle – and make more money again for the dealer.

"In the past there's been too much leakage of used Land Rovers and Jaguars out of our dealer network, because our dealers in the past haven't been as capable as they should have been in that space," Wiesner explained.

"We're spending a lot of time getting them back to be a full-servicing, strong dealership – across all departments... less reliant on new cars as their main profit earner.

"Good, young used cars are a great way to get people into the brand that otherwise haven't been in the past..."

This kind of programme is a first for Jaguar, which is simply catching up with other players in the industry. And it's potentially quite lucrative for the dealers.

"We certainly look at it from a profitability point of view," Wiesner acknowledges.

"Because if we can make sure we have a finger on that car from when it was sold as new to the second owner – and through the ownership cycle of the second owner – then... we know who it is, we know where it is, we know how it's been looked after.

"Then, instead of losing that car off into some independent used-car lot, [where] you effectively end up losing track of where it is and who owns it, you can keep bringing those people back, keep talking to those people – and then hopefully one day put them back into a Land Rover or Jaguar, whatever it might be.

"It's all about customer retention, quite frankly.

"It's a damned sight more cost-effective if we make sure our retention is always getting stronger... and not just bringing in conquest people from other brands all the time, because it's damned expensive."

Wiesner says that Jaguar expects to conquest as much as 90 per cent of F-Pace buyers from other brands. The aim is to keep them coming back by the time they're ready to trade out of the F-Pace.